[council] Agenda Request
Ken Stubbs
kstubbs at afilias.info
Sun Mar 5 01:53:25 UTC 2006
Marilyn's observations here are quite relevant..
there has to be basic "enforceable" safeguards built into the process to
deal with inadvertent expirations
and accidental deletions..
many companies (large & small) , have invested significant funds &
resources into their respective internet presence and
to think that it could all "evaporate" over a mistake made by someone in
the accounts payable department or a misdirected email (i.e. spam
filtered) is disconcerting to say the least... !
regards
ken stubbs
Marilyn Cade wrote:
>
> I am interested in this topic. I chaired the Transfers TF, and we
> dealt with a variety of topics in that TF...
>
>
>
> But, the Redemption Grace Period emerged as a safeguard for registrants.
>
> In those days, I worked for AT&T, and they had a portfolio of over 500
> names, including .net; .com; .org; several dozen country codes where
> they had market facing presence, and when the "proof of concept" TLDs
> were introduced, they also defensively registered in info and .biz in
> particular.
>
>
>
> Managing the portfolio was part of an assignment to a particular part
> of the corporation, but still, it was challenging and not simple to
> keep track of.
>
>
>
> I registered a name or two that I wanted to use, for organizing ad hoc
> coalitions, and managed them myself. And, then, when I left AT&T, I
> registered two names, one to use, one to defensively protect my "name".
>
>
>
> I am now an "average registrant" -- I need all the safeguards I can
> get. My registrar is extremely responsible -- wait, BOTH my registrars
> are responsible. BOTH of them remind me, and remind me, and REMIND
> me... but you know, I travel, I have a 90 year old father and I get
> distracted... and I am the CEO of a small business with a lot of other
> distractions... and focusing on my domain name doesn't always rise to
> the top of my agenda.... Yet, I depend on it....
>
>
>
> So, I need all the safeguards I can get. ... J within reason.
>
>
>
> I'll try not to extrapolate from my own experience and ineptness, but
> still, I think about the 'average' registrant. ... and thus, consensus
> policy for RGP seems fully appropriate.
>
>
>
> Marilyn
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* owner-council at gnso.icann.org
> [mailto:owner-council at gnso.icann.org] *On Behalf Of *Sophia B
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 04, 2006 7:16 PM
> *To:* ross at tucows.com
> *Cc:* GNSO Council
> *Subject:* Re: [council] Agenda Request
>
>
>
>
>
> I believe that the current policy is fine. It gives enough time in any
> way it is implemented for registrants to renew. Many people are
> irresponsible and that is why they loose their domains. I don't think
> giving them more time would change it.
>
>
>
> Choosing a better registrar that does a good job of protecting them is
> more important.
>
> Sophia
>
>
>
> On 03/03/06, *Ross Rader *<ross at tucows.com <mailto:ross at tucows.com>>
> wrote:
>
> Bruce, fellow Councillors,
>
> At our next meeting, I would like to propose the initiation of a new
> policy development process concerning the Redemption Grace Period and
> request that this topic be added to our agenda.
>
> It has recently come to my attention recently that the current
> implementation (detailed at
> http://www.icann.org/bucharest/redemption-topic.htm) is an optional
> registry service which may not be meeting the needs of registrants as
> originally envisaged when it was implemented. Recent press reports
> (see
> below) and registrant complaints indicate that names are being lost
> despite the implementation of this registry service.
>
> I have spent a lot of time considering whether or not Council can
> afford
> to take on additional work given our current workload and have
> come to
> the view that because of the widespread support for the Redemption
> Grace
> Period amongst the constituencies (as documented on the ICANN website)
> and the pre-existence of strong policy and implementation
> proposals that
> already have consensus support of the stakeholders, we should be
> able to
> confirm the Redemption Grace Period proposals as consensus policy
> fairly
> quickly and without much additional effort or contentious debate.
>
> Because of the pre-existing consensus on this issue, I will propose to
> move this forward without creating a task force per Annex A, Section 8
> of the ICANN Bylaws once we have agreed to initiate a PDP and been
> provided with an issues report by the staff.
> (http://www.icann.org/general/bylaws.htm#AnnexA-8). i.e. the
> fast-track.
>
> In the very least, creation of an issues report will gather up
> substantive data on this subject and allow us to make an informed
> decision regarding whether or not circumstances like those detailed
> below are widespread enough to justify launching a full-fledged PDP.
>
> Your consideration of this matter would be extremely appreciated.
> If you
> have any questions, please don't hesitate to drop me a note (or
> give me
> a ring).
>
> -ross
>
> 'Drop Catchers' Buy and Sell Web Names Others Let Slip
> By DAVID KESMODEL
> Wall Street Journal
> February 22, 2006; Page B1
> Last month, Chicago real-estate agent Judy Orr discovered that a Web
> site she used to showcase area homes had gone off-line. It turned out
> she had failed to pay the $9 annual renewal fee for her Web address,
> oak-lawn-real-estate.com <http://oak-lawn-real-estate.com>.
>
> But getting her site back online wasn't as easy as she had hoped:
> Another company had snapped up the domain name and wanted nearly
> $2,500
> to return it to her. "I was sick to my stomach," Ms. Orr says. It took
> two years of work to build up the site so it would rank prominently in
> Google's search results, and that time "went down the drain," she
> says.
>
> The new owner of the address was Lease Domains Inc., which is run by a
> 21-year-old graduate student, Anthos Chrysanthou, who works out of his
> parents' house in a Chicago suburb. Mr. Chrysanthou says his
> two-year-old company owns more than 2,000 domain names, many obtained
> through a process called "drop catching" -- snagging names owners have
> let expire, either accidentally or because they no longer want them.
>
> "I liken the whole situation to tangible real estate," says Mr.
> Chrysanthou, who is pursuing his master's in business
> administration at
> St. Xavier University in Chicago. "If you're not paying your
> mortgage or
> your taxes on it, it's going to get taken away."
>
> Mr. Chrysanthou is one of hundreds of drop catchers who either resell
> names or use them for Web sites loaded with advertisements. (Ms. Orr's
> former site now features text ads for real estate.) Many drop catchers
> have learned the trade in the past year, seeking a piece of the
> booming
> market for domains spurred by a surge in online advertising. The
> practice also has gotten a lift from providers of domain services,
> such
> as SnapNames.com Inc., Pool.com <http://Pool.com> Inc. and
> GoDaddy.com Inc., which have
> introduced tools aimed at helping people grab expiring domains.
>
> The services circulate lists each day showing which domains are
> about to
> go up for grabs. Auctions are held for particularly in-demand
> names, and
> prices can go sky-high: A1.com <http://A1.com> sold for $260,250
> in December, after its
> previous owner let the registration lapse.
>
> Drop catching "has pretty much changed completely in a few years'
> time,"
> says Michael Berkens, who runs MostWantedDomains.com, owner of about
> 45,000 domains, which range from 4nudepictures.com
> <http://4nudepictures.com> to 401kplans.com
> <http://401kplans.com>, out
> of his Fort Lauderdale, Fla., home. "There's more people," he
> says, and
> "prices have just escalated."
>
> DNJournal.com , a publication that tracks the domain industry,
> reported
> 2,291 sales of expired domains in auctions last year, with winning
> bids
> totaling a combined $11.5 million. That was up from 885 sales totaling
> $4.2 million a year earlier. Auctioneers don't report all deals to
> DNJournal, and the site doesn't track deals valued at less than $500.
>
> Roughly 20,000 expired domain names become available each day,
> according
> to industry executives. While many were consciously discarded by
> their
> owners, others, like Ms. Orr's, are the product of a
> domain-registration
> system that many users don't understand well.
>
> When a user registers a domain name, it can be reserved for as many as
> 10 years, typically for $80. But many choose a one-year registration
> because it is less expensive, often about $10, and because they
> may not
> want the site for a longer period. At the end of the year, the domain
> registrar generally sends renewal notices to the owner, but such
> messages can be missed if the owner has changed email addresses in
> that
> time.
>
> Under rules administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned
> Names
> and Numbers, the group that oversees the assignment of Web addresses,
> domain registrars such as GoDaddy and Network Solutions LLC have
> as many
> as 45 days after the expiration date to notify the official domain
> registry whether a name is being renewed or deleted. Typically,
> registrars have given users a grace period -- sometimes as long as 45
> days -- to renew their name.
>
> If a name is deleted, ICANN guidelines then call for a 30-day
> "redemption grace period," during which the original owner can still
> claim the name. If there is no claim in the redemption period, the
> name
> is dropped from the registry after a five-day holding period, and
> anyone
> is entitled to seek it.
>
> For the .com and .net registries, managed by VeriSign Inc., names drop
> starting around 2 p.m. Eastern each day, all year long. What
> follows is
> a process that some in the industry call "pounding." As the names
> drop,
> Internet companies that help users acquire expired names send rapid
> computer commands to the registry, seeking to grab the most valuable
> names. It is "a mad rush," says Dan Rubin, who runs
> justdropped.com <http://justdropped.com>,
> which helps people identify and acquire expired domains.
> Registries for
> other domain suffixes drop names at different times of day.
>
> The drop process underwent a key shift starting in late 2004. That is
> when SnapNames started a new service for grabbing domains. The company
> has signed exclusive agreements with more than a half-dozen
> registrars,
> including Network Solutions and Moniker.com <http://Moniker.com>,
> under which the registrars
> transfer expired domains to SnapNames, and SnapNames auctions them
> off.
> That way, names that people are interested in don't go through the
> traditional drop process that is open to anyone.
>
> GoDaddy, the largest domain registrar, has introduced its own auction
> service for expired names that were registered with it, as have other
> registrars, as they seek a cut of the action for expired names. They
> begin auctions for names even before the names have officially expired
> but warn auction participants that the original owner could still
> redeem
> the name.
>
> For domain owners, the new system means names can be grabbed from
> them
> even more quickly than they could before. Instead of going through the
> full deletion cycle -- which went as long as 75 days -- names are
> being
> transferred to new owners in 30 to 45 days.
>
> Paul Twomey, chief executive of ICANN, says some people in the domain
> industry recently have raised concerns that the guidelines governing
> expired names are "being utilized in ways that were not originally
> intended." But Mr. Twomey says no one has proposed a formal change in
> policy to address the issue.
>
> Ms. Orr's name, oak-lawn-real-estate.com
> <http://oak-lawn-real-estate.com>, is one of those that was
> transferred before going through the full deletion process, says Jay
> Westerdal, who runs Name Intelligence Inc., a Bellevue, Wash., company
> that tracks the industry.
>
> Tim Ruiz, vice president of domain services for GoDaddy, which
> transferred the name, says, "We make every attempt to give ample
> opportunity for registrants to renew." He says the company gives
> registrants 30 days to claim a name after it has expired.
>
> If a corporation loses a domain name that it believes is
> copyrighted or
> trademarked, it can seek to recover the name by appealing to an
> arbitration panel under ICANN's dispute-resolution policy. It also
> could
> take the domain's new owner to court, though that can be more
> expensive.
>
>
> Ms. Orr says she lost her site's name, which wasn't copyrighted or
> trademarked, because she made the mistake of relying on her
> Web-hosting
> company to keep track of her registration. She says she didn't see
> renewal notices from GoDaddy because it had an old email address for
> her. Ms. Orr plans to use another site -- oak-lawn-il.com
> <http://oak-lawn-il.com> -- to replace
> the one she lost.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Sophia Bekele
> Voice/Fax: 925-935-1598
> Mob:925-818-0948
> sophiabekele at gmail.com <mailto:sophiabekele at gmail.com>
> sbekele at cbsintl.com <mailto:sbekele at cbsintl.com>
> SKYPE: skypesoph
> www.cbsintl.com <http://www.cbsintl.com>
>
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